GUYANA’S road to economic development is built on a multi-sectoral strategy where there is no dominant sector, but rather all the sectors are complementary to one another in order to drive economic growth. And while it’s true that oil and gas will have a significant impact on the nation’s economy, it won’t come at the price of any other industries, particularly the agricultural sector, which is still seen as the engine of the economy.

The country won’t become dependent on oil, President, Dr Irfaan Ali has stressed repeatedly, but it will use it to speed up progress in other areas. This is true despite the fact that the economy is set to gain billions of dollars from its vast oil reserves. The President asserts that Guyana’s economy will never be solely dependent on oil and gas.

The oil-and-gas sector provides the incentive to advance other facets of the economy and give the nation the benefit of moving forward with projects that would improve its overall competitiveness.

In order to do this, President Ali had stated that he was interested in having the oil money strengthen the country’s efforts to combat climate change; strengthen the agricultural sector; increase the delivery of high-quality healthcare and educational services; construct a modern manufacturing and industrial zone that would offer up chances for agro-processing, fabricating and machining, research and development, and more.

There is no denying the fact that the oil-and-gas sector is a significant contributor to the growth trajectory of the country and in some important ways is an economic game-changer. This is why we cannot be shy to optimise our earnings from our oil-and-gas resources within the framework of the country’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) which is currently being revised to take into account new developments in the economic life of the country.

Vice-President, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has said too that Guyana must go beyond oil and gas. Dr Jagdeo was right when he noted that the country had very little attention from abroad before oil and gas were discovered, as opposed to now when this industry is the centre of attention.

According to Dr Jagdeo: “We have not been shy about saying that we want to get as much oil and gas out of the ground and sold and the money converted into a fund and other opportunities as quickly as possible.”

This, he acknowledged, might sound crude in the era of climate change, but as mentioned earlier, there is a limited window of opportunity to get this done and as a result the authorities intend to achieve this goal in an environmentally sound, fair and equitable manner.

And, as pointed out by the Vice-President, the administration is doing so very conscious of the fact that a pathway exists based not only on the environment, but the economy and the interlinking of the two.

The government must be commended for embracing a development path that is based on the sustainable harvesting of our natural resources in an environmentally safe and friendly manner.

Some people don’t see potential in the oil-and-gas industry; they see only risks. This is undoubtedly not a wise decision. Only in an environment of expanding prosperity can development occur. A resource that has the potential to significantly improve the lives and general well-being of Guyanese citizens is available for the country to use. So, not utilising this would not be in our best interests.